Australia
Nullarbor Plain
A treeless plain ending in sheer cliffs that drop into the Southern Ocean to the horizon.
The road runs straight for 146 kilometres without a single bend. The treeless plain — Nullarbor means 'no trees' — extends in every direction to horizons that have nothing on them. Then it ends. Sheer cliffs drop into the Southern Ocean with no warning, no barrier, and no one watching.
The Nullarbor Plain stretches approximately 1,200 kilometres across the border of South Australia and Western Australia, the world's largest single piece of limestone. The Eyre Highway crosses it in the longest straightest road in Australia — 146.6 kilometres without a curve. Roadhouses are spaced 200 kilometres apart, each one a fuel-and-food lifeline. The plain ends at the Bunda Cliffs, where the limestone drops 60-120 metres vertically into the Southern Ocean — southern right whales are visible below from May to October. The landscape's defining feature is absence: no trees, no hills, no rivers, no towns. Beneath the surface, the Nullarbor's cave systems are among the longest in Australia.
Solo
The longest straight road in Australia, whale-watching from clifftops with no one around, and a silence that lasts for days — the Nullarbor tests and rewards solo drivers.
Friends
Convoy across the treeless plain, stop at every roadhouse, and stand together at the Bunda Cliffs where the land simply ends — the Nullarbor is a group pilgrimage.
- The treeless plain stretches 1,200 kilometres — then ends in sheer Bunda Cliffs dropping into the Southern Ocean.
- The longest straight stretch of road in Australia — 146 kilometres without a single bend.
- Whale watching from the cliff edge — no platform, no barrier, just you and the Southern Ocean below.
- Roadhouses are spaced 200 kilometres apart — each one a lifeline in a landscape defined by absence.
Roadhouse pies and coffee at Nullarbor Roadhouse — the only structure for hundreds of kilometres in any direction.
Camp cooking at the Bunda Cliffs lookout — eat dinner as southern right whales breach 80 metres below.
Wistman's Wood
England
Twisted ancient oaks dripping with moss in a silence so deep it hums.
Imber
England
A ghost village frozen in 1943 where wildlife has reclaimed the empty cottages.
Gilf Kebir
Egypt
Prehistoric swimmers painted on cave walls in the deep Sahara, from when this wasteland was green.
Great Sand Sea
Egypt
Sand ridges higher than buildings stretching to the Libyan border, hiding shards of cosmic glass.
Strahan
Australia
Cruise the Gordon River past Huon pines that were saplings when Rome was still a republic.
Maria Island
Australia
A car-free island where Tasmanian devils roam free and convict ruins crumble into wildflower meadows.
Dampier Peninsula
Australia
Red pindan dirt meets turquoise sea at Aboriginal communities where the country is still the boss.
Sydney
Australia
Ferries carve blue water between surf beaches and opera sails as cockatoos screech overhead.